SCANDAL: RANDY, RED, SUPERFREAK AND JULIA {FOURTH SEASON PREMIERE} (TV)
Summary
One in this drama/political thriller about the Pope & Associates crisis management firm in Washington D.C.
Olivia and Jake enjoy their new life together on a tropical island off the coast of Zanzibar, continuing their romantic relationship with each other under assumed names. One day Olivia receives a letter with no return address; inside is a clipping from a newspaper, a brief article reporting that Harrison is dead and his body has been found. They returns to Washington D.C. to attend Harrison’s funeral. While there, Olivia solemnly goes up to visit her office, but finds that it is empty and tarps have been draped over the furniture. She also finds a board indicating that her team put considerable effort into trying to locate her. Quinn reveals herself and explains how she and the rest of the team were able to find her, and says she is the one who sent her the newspaper clipping. They visit Huck, now working as a tech support associate at a computer store under the name “Randy.” He wants nothing to do with her since she is only back for the funeral.
Abby now works for the Grant administration as White House Press Secretary, retaining her position even after President Grant has fired many members of his cabinet as part of his agenda to promote legislation heralding gender equality in salary. Mellie has descended into depression, preferring to spend her time in leisure activities rather than any political duties. Cyrus meets with new RNC Chairman Elizabeth North, who is concerned about President Grant’s refusal to capitalize on his son’s death as a fundraising measure and his newfound bipartisan leanings. Cyrus does not particularly care about Elizabeth’s complaints and asks her to leave. Quinn meets with Abby during one of her rare free moments and has her meet with Olivia. She asks Abby to get the team back together so that they can plan Harrison’s funeral, but Abby is still bitter that Olivia left and wants nothing more to do with her; she indicates that she believes Olivia’s absence is what allowed Harrison’s death to occur. Olivia is outraged that Abby would blame her for Harrison’s death, calling it “unforgivable.” They both storm off and Olivia tells Quinn to leave her alone.
Jake visits David and asks him why he has not yet acted on the information in the files he gave him. David admits that they contain content too frightening for him to contemplate, but Jake urges him to do so. Olivia has dinner with Rowan, who anticipated her arrival but urges her to go back to the island. She asks him if he is responsible for Harrison’s death, and he says that he did not. He claims that he killed Maya, and that the circumstances surrounding President Grant’s son’s death remains secret. Cyrus discovers that Olivia is back in Washington and asks Abby why she did not inform him. Abby suspects that Cyrus is spying on him but Cyrus is angry at her, believing that Olivia’s presence could disrupt the White House’s operations. Cyrus passes on this information to President Grant, and he asks that he find out how long she intends to remain in Washington. Olivia claims to Jake that she is having difficulty planning Harrison’s funeral. She receives a visit from one of Senator Stephanie Vaughn’s staffers with a call from the Senator; she requests Olivia’s help, as she has apparently just murdered another senator, Benjamin Sterling.
David re-examines the B613 files, but is interrupted by a call from Cyrus. Cyrus offers him the vacant position of Attorney General of the United States. Olivia arrives at Senator Sterling’s house, where Senator Vaughn describes how Senator Sterling attempted to molest her while she was visiting him to secure votes on President Grant’s gender salary bill, and she pushed him away, causing him to topple off of a balcony to his death. Olivia soon determines that Senator Sterling is not dead, and proposes that they both call an ambulance and extricate Senator Vaughn from the scene of the crime. Olivia convinces a lawyer acquaintance of hers’, Clark, to take the case. Olivia speaks to Huck again, telling him about the funeral for Harrison. Olivia asks Huck about what happened with him and his family but he refuses to say anything about it, claiming that he is no longer “Huck” and that he has consigned himself to a meaningless, monotonous existence alone. He tells her to go away and not to return unless she chooses to return permanently.
Olivia tries to determine how to discredit Senator Sterling, whom she feels is being “canonized” despite the apparent fact that he is a “sexual predator.” She is outraged that Senator Vaughn is the one being ostracized for being a victim of attempted rape. She decides to take Senator Vaughn’s case herself. Jake feels upset that Olivia cannot let go of her past in Washington and believes she is still in President Grant’s thrall. Cyrus believes that President Grant cannot let go of his feelings for Olivia and that they will inevitably be drawn to each other. Olivia speaks in private with Senator Vaughn, asserting that she believes that Senator Vaughn is lying about the entire incident, believing that Senator Vaughn’s apparently unclear memory about the assault on her is evidence that she was not actually assaulted. She leaves Senator Vaughn alone and calls Quinn, telling her about the conversation, which is apparently a bluff on Olivia’s part. Quinn notices something unusual in that all of Senator Sterling’s female staff have similar physical appearances, and all of them are quite dissimilar to Senator Vaughn. However, they do match that of Kate, Senator Vaughn’s aide, and Olivia acts on this knowledge, now believing that she was the one who was sexually assaulted by Senator Sterling and that she retaliated and nearly killed him; Senator Vaughn claimed it was herself so as to protect Kate. She confirms this hypothesis by checking Kate’s call history on her cell phone.
Abby and David get into an argument about his appointment to the Attorney General’s office, which she was not informed about. Olivia confronts Senator Vaughn about her covering for Kate, and Olivia soon realizes that Senator Vaughn deliberately sent Kate there in hopes of swaying Senator Sterling’s opinions about the vote for the equal pay bill, knowing full well that Kate was his “type” and that she could be subject to his sexual advances. Kate discovers this and gets into an argument with Senator Vaughn; the entire incident disgusts Olivia and she leaves to attend Harrison’s funeral and then leave Washington. Olivia, Jake, and Quinn attend Harrison’s sparse funeral. Olivia tells Quinn that Harrison grew up in a group home and thus his parents are not present at the funeral. Abby and Huck arrive as well to pay their final respects to Harrison. Jake notices Rowan watching the funeral from his car.
Mellie continues to wallow in depression; it turns out that at some unspecified point President Grant attempted to commit suicide after what he describes as a “bad night.” He tells her that Olivia is in town but says he has no intention of seeing her. Mellie tells him that “monitoring” him no longer feels important after the death of her son, and that she no longer cares about his relationship with Olivia; she asks him to tell her when he sees Olivia. Olivia has second thoughts about returning to the island with Jake. David is appointed as Attorney General, much to Elizabeth’s displeasure. Olivia announces that she is representing Kate in the investigation into the assault on her at Senator Sterling’s house. In the process she uses it as a platform to push President Grant’s agenda for the equal pay bill. She and Quinn work on the case, and Huck soon joins them as well. Olivia and President Grant pass each other in the lobby of the United States Congress and keep walking without acknowledging each other. Includes commercials.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: November 30, 1999 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:59:45
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 117173
- GENRE: Drama, mystery/suspense
- SUBJECT HEADING: African-American Collection - Drama; LGBT Collection - Drama; Drama, mystery/suspense; Politics
- SERIES RUN: ABC - TV series, 2012-2018
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV - Commercials – “The Equalizer” motion picture
- TV – Commercials – Apple smartphones
- TV – Commercials – Bareskin cosmetics
- TV – Commercials – Chanel perfume
- TV – Commercials – Chromecast media player device
- TV – Commercials – Diet Coke soft drink
- TV – Commercials – Dior perfume
- TV – Commercials – Google search app
- TV – Commercials – Kohl’s department stores
- TV – Commercials – Mercedes-Benz automobiles
- TV – Commercials – Netflix movie streaming service
- TV – Commercials – Old Navy apparel
- TV – Commercials – Paypal online payment service
- TV – Commercials – Samsung smartphones
- TV – Commercials – Sprint phone service
- TV – Commercials – T-Mobile phone service
- TV – Commercials – Verizon phone service
- TV – Commercials – Victoria’s Secret women’s underwear
- TV – Commercials – “Gone Girl” motion picture
- TV – Commercials – “The Best of Me” motion picture
- TV – Commercials – “The Judge” motion picture
- TV – Promos – “Blackish”
- TV – Promos – “Cristela”
- TV – Promos – “Forever”
- TV – Promos – “How to Get Away of Murder”
- TV – Promos – “Jimmy Kimmel Live”
- TV – Promos – “Once Upon a Time”
- TV – Promos – “Resurrection”
- TV – Promos – “Revenge”
- TV – Promos – “Scandal”
- TV – Promos – “Selfie”
- TV – Promos – “Shark Tank”
CREDITS
- Mark Wilding … Executive Producer
- Betsy Beers … Executive Producer
- Shonda Rhimes … Executive Producer, Created by, Writer
- Heather Mitchell … Co-Executive Producer
- Merri D. Howard … Co-Executive Producer
- Allen Heinberg … Co-Executive Producer
- Mark Fish … Co-Executive Producer
- Judy Smith … Co-Executive Producer
- Tom Verica … Co-Executive Producer, Director
- Scott Collins … Producer
- Matt Byrne … Producer
- Zahir McGhee … Co-Producer
- Noah Esvlin … Co-Producer
- Holden Chang … Associate Producer
- Jenna Bans … Consulting Producer
- Chad Fischer … Music by
- Kerry Washington … Cast, Olivia Pope
- Scott Foley … Cast, Jake Ballard
- Darby Stanchfield … Cast, Abby Whelan
- Katie Lowes … Cast, Quinn Perkins
- Guillermo Diaz … Cast, Huck
- Jeff Perry … Cast, Cyrus Beene
- Joshua Malina … Cast, David Rosen
- Bellamy Young … Cast, Mellie Grant
- Tony Goldwyn … Cast, President Fitzgerald Grant III
- Portia di Rossi … Cast, Elizabeth North
- Jessica Tuck … Cast, Senator Stephanie Vaughn
- Kelen Coleman … Cast, Kate
- Sal Viscuso … Cast, Clark
- Brian Letscher … Cast, Tom Larsen
- Joe Morton … Cast, Rowan Pope
- Jay Jackson … Cast, Mike Waters
- Dinora Walcott … Cast, Reporter Carol
- Reece Rios … Cast, Reporter Peter
- Erica Shaffer … Cast, Field Reporter
- Asante Jones … Cast, Reporter Martin
- Gustavo Adolfo Caraballo … Cast, Aide